USC will be tested all year. Saturday is their first test. They have to travel to a hostile environment to play a worthy opponent. What will the outcome be? Your guess is as good as mine. But the Trojans always come to play on Saturday. If they can limit mistakes and stay cool under pressure, I expect things to go our way. Here is our second edition of TrojanWire Thoughts of the Day:

I was impressed by Jeremy Bates and the USC playing calling last week. Some said that the offense was very simple because USC had a true freshman under center. I disagree. Barkley was there all spring and has the tools and smarts to run a complex offense. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be the starter. The Trojans just didn’t want to give anything away. Why show any trickery in week one? Lets surprise opponents as the season progresses. I have no problem with USC running the same play over and over if the other team can’t stop it. Coach Carroll has put together a great coaching staff. This will help the Trojans on Saturday.

The Galen Center, along with five other locations around the country, are showing the USC vs. Ohio State game in a special 3-D format. 3-D doesn’t work for Taylor Mays. The stuff on screen is afraid to get up in his face. Ahhhhhhhh SNAP! For more “facts” on Taylor Mays click here.

Allen Bradford (pictured above) is a beast. He looks like LenDale 2.0, but bigger, stronger and faster (and cooler tattoos). Jeremy Bates on Bradford, "I wish I had this guy on the Broncos last season."

More jaw-dropping, head spinning, bad ass analysis after the jump…

The play happened during the second practice of training camp Sunday. Quarterback Aaron Corp scrambled left, then turned back and ran right. As Greene gave chase, Byers blindsided him with a clean, crunching block. Greene ended up on the turf as the rest of the Trojans hooted and hollered.

“Kevin Greene found out what Jeff Byers is all about,” USC coach Pete Carroll said.

Byers is known for his all-out hustle, which he frequently displayed last season despite being underweight after a summer illness limited his training.

Byers said he weighed 280 pounds “on a good day” last season. Now he’s at 297.

“My body feels good,” said Byers, who missed the 2005 and ‘06 seasons because of injuries. “I’m heavy. I’m just ready to go. I’ve still got to work hard, still got to really hone my skills. (But) I can actually come out and play the whole camp and feel good about myself.”

Byers is the senior leader of an offensive line that returns its top eight players and should be among the nation’s best. Greene got a little taste of it Sunday.

“Just playing football. Toughen the young guys up,” Byers said. “We practice full speed, pads or no pads. When we’re going full speed, I’m not thinking about whether I have pads on.”

More from the USC blog:

• USC football: WR recruits in the house
• USC football: 3 observations as training camp opens
• USC football: Joe McKnight comes out flying
• USC football: Buoyant Blakes Ayles back on the field
• USC football: Three defenders dinged
• USC football: Everson Griffen gets serious
• USC football: The ‘weird’ Corp-Barkley dynamic
• USC football: Brown, Hall awaiting academic clearance
• USC football: Signals won’t stop Matt Barkley
• USC football: Shareece Wright happy, healthy

Post from: USC

Eighth in a series on grounds for optimism and worry.

Biggest reason for hope -- An intact offensive line leads nine returning offensive starters.

Coaches often say it all starts with the offensive line (though this is an interesting contrarian argument), so the Trojans should be off to a good start with five starters returning and depth so talented it might unseat a veteran or two -- see tackle Tyron Smith challenging Butch Lewis. Kristofer O'Dowd is an All-American and may be the best center in the country. Guard Jeff Byers and tackle Charles Brown are All-Pac-10 guys who may get national honors, too. Last year, USC averaged 195 yards rushing per game and surrendered just 18 sacks, fewest in the conference. Best line in the nation? Maybe.

Biggest reason for concern -- This is probably the nation's toughest schedule.

Unlike many other programs in other conferences that hope to compare themselves to USC, the Trojans are not afraid of playing tough nonconference games on the road. Good for them, but some years it sets up a brutal slog of a schedule. USC figures to be the only team in the nation to play four nationally ranked opponents on the road -- Ohio State, California, Notre Dame and Oregon. The opener against San Jose State? Heck, the Spartans have won 20 games over the past three seasons since Dick Tomey took over. Toss in the quality depth of the Pac-10 and the round-robin conference schedule and no other team in the nation faces fewer weeks off than the Trojans.

Here is a nice piece by Ted Miller on sixth-year offensive guard Jeff Byers. The Trojans return all five starters on the offensive line this season. This is my favorite excerpt:

Byers is one of five returning starters from a line that: A. Gave up only 18 sacks in 2008, fewest in the Pac-10; B. Led a rushing attack that averaged 195 yards per game and 5.0 yards per carry; and, C. Is very deep considering the entire 2008 two-deep is back, and touted sophomore Tyron Smith is pushing to eclipse Butch Lewis at right tackle.

USC's brainy Byers leads line that ranks among nation's best [espn.com]

Here’s the fifth thing we learned this spring about USC football:

No. 5 — All-Pac-10 center Kristofer O’Dowd is worthy of all the hype.

How can this be? How could Kristofer O’Dowd prove his value without taking a single spring snap?

It seems counterintuitive, but hear me out:

Sometimes we don’t realize the value of a player until he’s gone. Quick example: In the Phoenix Suns’ run-and-gun heyday from 2004-08, they won 70.7 percent of their regular-season games. Out of the 17 games Steve Nash missed, they won all of four.

The O’Dowd-less USC offensive line didn’t have a bad spring, but it didn’t have a great one either. It was one of the Trojans’ more inconsistent units, and arguably their most disappointing given the number of returnees with starting experience (even without O’Dowd).

A lot of variables contributed to that. One was the daily dominance of a deep, talented defensive line that probably would have made any college O-line look bad. Another was a spate of minor injuries that had several players shifting around. (Tackle Butch Lewis briefly played guard — for the first time.) Yet another was the force-feeding of talented but still-learning young tackles Tyron Smith and Matt Kalil.

The constant was the absence of O’Dowd, who missed spring ball while recuperating from shoulder surgery.

It’s hard for even a football fanatic such as myself to truly judge offensive-line play, and it’s especially difficult to assess the interior linemen when so many bodies converge and the ball is often elsewhere. But it was clear during spring drills that USC’s offensive line missed O’Dowd, who earned first-team All-Pac-10 honors as a sophomore. There were far too many tackles for loss and far too many one-sided blitz periods.

The offensive line hadn’t looked that shaky since the start of training camp last year, when guard Jeff Byers was out because of an illness. O’Dowd took just about every snap then, so maybe it’s the combination of him and Byers that makes the O-line click. Once Byers returned, the line jelled.

I expect the same to happen this year when O’Dowd comes back — and adds “All-American” to his growing résumé .

10 THINGS WE LEARNED SCHEDULE

• Thursday, April 30: No. 1 — Freshman quarterback Matt Barkley is really, really good
• Friday, May 1: No. 2 — Junior defensive end Everson Griffen can be as good as he wants to be
• Monday, May 4: No. 3 — The Trojans have more viable tailbacks than they have spots to play them
• Tuesday, May 5: No. 4 — The Trojans are crazy deep at cornerback, and that’s a very good thing
• Wednesday, May 6: No. 5 — All-Pac-10 center Kristofer O’Dowd is worthy of all the hype
• Thursday, May 7: No. 6
• Friday, May 8: No. 7
• Monday, May 11: No. 8
• Tuesday, May 12: No. 9
• Wednesday, May 13: No. 10

More from the USC blog:

• USC football: 10 things we learned in spring (No. 4)
• USC football: 10 things we learned in spring (No. 3)
• USC football: 8 kickoff times set for 2009
• USC football: 10 things we learned in spring (No. 2)
• USC Football: Robinson in CFB Hall of Fame
• USC football: 10 things we learned in spring (No. 1)
• USC basketball: Net result of the comings and goings
• USC football: Pryor engagement already on their minds?
• USC football: The secret to Jethro Franklin’s success
• USC football: A pair of unsolved mysteries

Post from: USC

Follow the jump for the complete list.

The 2009 schedule features Taylor Mays, Jeff Byers, Damian Williams, Stafon Johnson, Joe McKnight, Everson Griffin and Josh Pinkard.

To download the poster for your desktop wallpaper click here.

There is some pretty good stuff in there, including the preliminary plan to move Jeff Byers over to center while Kris O'Dowd recovers from shoulder surgery.

"The biggest thing Kristofer has to do is make sure he stays involved around the players and in meetings because we're going to move Jeff Byers in there at center and all of a sudden, competition is created and next thing you know, you could have a first-team Pac-10 guy fighting to get his job back,'' offensive line coach Pat Ruel said. ``That's the great part about competition. I think it's really important for Kristofer to stay involved because he's just around the corner from getting back. If he doesn't stay involved, you never know what can happen."

Much of the off-season news has focused on the departures of Mark Sanchez to the NFL and offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian to Washington. However, it should not be overlooked that the entire offensive line will return for the 2009 season. Led by sixth year senior Jeff Byers the Trojans will have one of the best O-Lines in the country. This should make the transition at starting QB smoother for either Aaron Corp, Mitch Mustain or Matt Barkley.

Here are our thoughts on the guys that stood out in last nights presentation. Full bios and direct quotes from Pete Carroll after the jump.

John Martinez, OL, 4-STAR
Just a nasty, pancake blocking guard. He can get down field too (a la Jeff Byers). Highlight after highlight he would pull from his guard position, run and then just destroy someone. They want him to play center. He will be a cornerstone of a future O-line group.

Kevin Graf, OL, 4-STAR
This guy is 6'6" and 315 pounds. He looked like the green giant against his high school peers.

Matt Barkley, QB, 5-STAR
Not much needs to be said. #1 player in the country. Big arm. Can read defenses. Dedicated. His eyes were nearly popping out of his head when he spoke to the coaches following Mark Sanchez's departure.

De'Von Flournoy, WR, 4-STAR
Holy cow. Not sure if we have ever seen a highlight reel like his. There were over 20 plays. And not one that didn't go for a touchdown. Very impressive speed and sense of other players around him.

Jacob Harfman, K, 2-STAR
A little shorter than David Buehler but definitely of the same mold (a big, physical kicker). He can do it all — placekicking and punts. He was 3 for 3 over 50 yards and has kicked a 70 yarder in practice. He has incredible hangtime on his kickoffs if anyone ever does decide to take it out, they will be met with the Trojans special teams before getting to the 20. The ball just explodes off his foot.

Hebron Fangupo, DT, 4-STAR
Great penetration up the middle, even while drawing double teams on every play.

James Boyd, DE, 4-STAR
An incredible athlete that was actually the starting QB for his high school too. He is a freaking defensive end! He plays basketball too (and averages 25 points and 22 rebounds).

Devon Kennard, DE, 5-STAR
A prototypical freak defensive end. Hopefully with a more malleable attitude than Everson Griffen.

Frankie Telfort, LB, 4-STAR
He ran a 4.39. He is a cerebral player. He wants to major pre-med. He has a cool name. He has potential to be a really, really special player.

Jarvis Jones, LB, 4-STAR
A mean hitter that doesn't take any wasted steps before blowing up his opponent. Impressive.

Jawanza Starling, DB, 4-STAR
Another mean hitter. He is going to play baseball for SC too.